There is a desire in the food industry to create visually attractive products to provide the best possible experience for the consumer. One way to enhance the product appearance is by applying attractive patterns onto the surface of the product, made from edible materials such as coatings, chocolate or other edible liquids.
The application of decorative patterns is widely used in the confectionery industry. One way to generate such patterns is by applying lines, waves or similar structures onto the product surface. A typical way of application is by dispensing a liquid onto the surface though a pipe containing multiple openings. This pipe is typically located above the products. The product passes beneath the pipe and the liquid generates lines on the surface. By oscillating the tube, a pattern of waves can be formed. This technology is used in confectionery industry for products such as pralines, cookies and many other applications.
While application of decorative lines onto edible products passing beneath the applicator is a common practice, there is no solution to apply parallel vertical lines onto vertical product surfaces in a process of horizontal pass-by in a satisfactory manner. However, a horizontal pass-by movement of products is a common feature on many industrial manufacturing processes.
DE2725181 concerns the application of decorative patterns from a dispenser located above the product. According to the movement performed, lines, waves, and zig-zag lines can be applied on the product below the applicator. The system cannot be used on vertical product surfaces.
WO2013/092503A1 discloses a technology to apply lines onto vertical surfaces of ice cream bars, such as extruded or molded sticks. The fluid is projected from nozzles against the surface of products which perform a down/up movement. The application of vertical lines on vertical product surfaces which travel by horizontally is not possible.
Application of chocolate lines onto a confectionery product can also be achieved by means of a spinning cup or wheel, equipped with one or more holes.
EP0048184 discloses a spinning wheel projecting chocolate lines straight up into inverted molds located above the spinning cup. There is no mentioning of using this technology on horizontal surfaces. (Application number is 81304291.8)
US2002/0068119 A1 describes a system for decoration of a vertical surface of confectionery products. The working principle consists of a cup filled with liquid chocolate or another liquid and spinning it around a vertical axis and passing by the products in a horizontal movement. Through holes in the cup, the decoration liquid is ejected outwards during the rotation and gets projected against a vertical surface that is within the reach of the projected material. Since the cup dispensing the liquid rotates around a vertical axis, the fluid projected against a vertical product generates horizontal or near horizontal lines. Vertical or near vertical lines cannot be generated by this technology.
WO 02/082918 concerns decoration of products that perform an up/down movement during application of the lines. In the process, chocolate lines are ejected from a cup rotating around a vertical axis and provide a generally crisscross pattern onto a moving vertical surface. An ice cream bar moves down/up in front of the ejected chocolate lines. So while the ejected chocolate travels horizontally, the product travels down—this generates a diagonal line of chocolate on the product surface. When the product moves up, there is again a diagonal line painted on the product, but with a different orientation. Combined, both lines give a crossed line pattern. On page 6, line 6 ff, the patent mentions generation of generally vertical lines crossed by generally horizontal lines but does not teach generation of only vertical lines and does further not teach application onto horizontally moving products.
WO 2012/080360 discloses a wet-in-wet double coating. It describes a process of applying a pressurized stream of chocolate onto the previously coated surface of an ice cream bar by means of a syringe needle. While this technology can generate vertical lines, the patent does not teach about technical means to perform such lines in an industrial environment.
There is therefore a need to provide a dosing system that remedies the shortcomings of the existing solution and apply decorative lines onto the surface of vertically oriented products which exhibit vertical or near vertical orientations. Further, there is a need to provide such decorations to a high level of accuracy.